5 Durham Road Sheffield - 4th July 1960

A researcher contacted me this week regarding a feature of his family history

" there is one that I feel I must find more about; the death of Linda Valerie Pridmore, aged 12, in December 1960.  This, of course, is late 20th Century when the child mortality rate had improved quite a lot, which poses the question, how did she die?  She survived the usual infant diseases, although children of all ages are vulnerable I know.  But I have a feeling that there is more to Linda's death that I just need to find  out about; it is niggling me.

Her name isn't common and if there was anything untoward about her death, it may have been reported in the local press.  I wondered if you could do a search of the local papers of December 1960. The date of her death falls just within the embargo of coroners' reports, so I can't go there yet.  I would be grateful for anything that you can dig up."

I checked the BMD and found the following for Linda

 Birth Name Linda V Pridmore Registration Date Jul 1948

Registration Quarter Jul-Aug-Sep

Registration district Sheffield Inferred County South Yorkshire

Mother's Maiden Name Todd

Volume Number 2d  Page number 86

Death  Name Linda V Pridmore Death Age 11

Birth Date abt 1949

Registration Date Jul 1960 Registration Quarter Jul-Aug-Sep

Registration district Sheffield Inferred County Yorkshire West Riding

Volume 2d Page 45

And then I checked the excellent Sheffield Indexers site and found these burial records

PRIDMORE, Ellen (Wife of George, age 57).  Died at 5 Durham Rd; Buried on July 9, 1960 in Consecrated ground;      Grave Number 30979, Section F6 of City Road Cemetery, Sheffield. Plot Owner: ~ ~ of ~. Page No 250

PRIDMORE, Linda Valerie (Daughter of George, age 11). Died at 5 Durham Rd; Buried on July 9, 1960 in Consecrated ground; Grave Number 30979, Section F6 of City Road Cemetery, Sheffield. Plot Owner: ~ ~ of ~. Page No 250

Mother and daughter buried on the same day looked ominous and so I checked the BNA and Newspaper Archive and found this report from The Guardian dated 5th July 1960

I relayed this information back to the researcher and needless to say he was dumbfounded by this revelation. He also informed me that  George and Ellen lost two other children, both less than 12 months old in 1941 and 1942.  George, who found the bodies, was their first born and their only child to survive childhood.  Such a sad story

I can find no photo of the house on Durham Road as it is now the site of  the University of Sheffield's multi-storey car park. I have a feeling that the house where the tragedy occurred may have been late Georgian in style similar to those on adjacent streets

And of course if anyone could supple me with any further information I would be grateful.